A petition accused the movie of degrading women and displaying them as a commodity

The Delhi High Court Wednesday expressed displeasure over Hindi film Race 2 following a petition that it showed nudity and vulgarity. “Please think where the film industry is going. You are teaching indiscipline to children,” a division bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice VK Jain said.

They were hearing a PIL alleging that the film was vulgar and showed nude scenes. It sought a ban on the movie.

The court’s observation came after the counsel appearing for the producers and director of Race 2 said the Central Film Certification Board (CBFC) had already cleared its release. The court sought response from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, CBFC and Delhi government and posted the matter for Friday.

The petition was filed by social worker Teena Sharma.

The court had earlier directed the central government to consider the plea against Race 2 and take appropriate action within a fortnight. Sharma moved the court again after the government failed to act. She said she was deeply hurt by the nude scenes and dialogues with double meaning after viewing the film in a theatre.

Challenging the U/A certification given to the film, the plea said: “The film has been screened in 50 countries and it has been graded as an adult movie in 40 countries while here it had been granted U/A certification. The contents of the film are highly objectionable and therefore the film has got A certification for screening in the US and Britain.”

The petition accused the movie of degrading women and displaying them as a commodity. U/A certification is given to films which children above 12 years are allowed to see under parental guidance.

The Ram Gopal Varma film based on Mumbai’s brutal terrorist attack has been cleared without cuts

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma’s new film The Attacks of 26/11 has been passed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) without any cuts, but with an ‘Adults Only‘ certificate.

“He expected an ‘A’ certificate because of the nature of the content. But the fact that not a single shot was found to be objectionable only vindicates the stand Ramu had taken when he was attacked for making the film. He didn’t make this film to sensationalise the issue,” said a friend of Varma.

And now he awaits the release of the film on March 1 with fingers crossed. The film is based on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, which took 166 lives.

Bollywood has mixed reactions to government ruling on smoking scenes in films, but an NGO has asked Heroine director Madhur Bhandarkar to comply with the regulations

B-town’s reaction was mixed Tuesday to the central government informing the Supreme Court that it would permit smoking scenes in films though with a statutory warning: Cigarette smoking is injurious to health.

Director Bejoy Nambiar, whose debut film Shaitan had many smoking scenes,said. “I think its fair enough as long as the censor board is allowing the smoking scene with a few restrictions. Because what I have heard is in down South any film with a smoking scene gets an ‘A’ certificate and this affects the economics of the film. So I feel this decision is much better.”

Filmmaker Karan Malhotra, who faced issues during the shooting of his item song Chikni Chamli in Agneepath says it is ridiculous. “I feel it’s ridiculous and disgusting. Instead of doing all these things why don’t they stop selling cigarettes? I just don’t understand this concept. If they have a rape scene in the film even that time are they going to run the supers,” Malhotra remarked. He further added, “It is not only distracting but it also looks foolish. When someone comes to see a film paying Rs 300, we are just spoon feeding them with such moral rules.”

Director Vivek Agnihotri said, “It’s a sad commentary on the way we have understood cinema. I don’t understand why cinema becomes the victim all the time. In no other country people interfere the way films function. There is no other art form that touches everyone’s life. I just don’t understand this.”

A Supreme Court bench of Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi was told that the new notification would mandate that the films showing a smoking scene would show the actor giving a warning at the start of the film, in between after the interval while a static message would be displayed in the course of the scene showing smoking. Senior counsel V Shekhar, appearing for the government, told the court that the notification superseding all earlier notifications prohibiting smoking scenes would be issued September 14.

While adjourning the hearing of the matter, the apex court declined to entertain a plea by a counsel seeking exemption for the release of the film, Heroine, which has scenes of women puffing cigarettes. Meanwhile, an NGO working in the field of healthcare has asked Madhur Bhandarkar, the producer of Hindi movie Heroine, to comply with rules against showing smoking scenes on screen. Hriday (Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth), which has been working in spreading message against tobacco usage, wrote to Bhandarkar after the producer approached Delhi High Court seeking a censor board clearance for his Kareena Kapoor-starrer Heroine, without following the regulations against depiction of smoking.

The new guidelines, under the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Rules, 2004, say that every new and old film (Indian and foreign), as well as TV programmes (new and old), must have the actors mouthing health warnings at the beginning of the film, and in the middle. It also restricts depiction of smoking. The organisation has written to Bhandarkar citing examples of movies like Agneepath and Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. “We would like to bring to your notice that many of the renowned filmmakers like Karan Johar have complied with the regulations in full spirit for his blockbuster movies like Agneepath and Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. Blurring of scenes where close up of the tobacco product is shown and running health message in the beginning and the interval of the film,” the letter said.

Bhandarkar had Monday moved the Delhi High Court against the information and broadcasting ministry’s order to display anti-smoking messages during smoking scenes in the movie. Heroine is scheduled to release September 21.

Filmmaker Anurag Basu, whose earlier films were mostly A-rated, is excited that his film Barfi! has been rated with a generous ‘U’ by the censor board

Director Anurag Basu is on cloud nine after receiving his first ‘U’ certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) forBarfi!.“Just got the censor certificate, Barfi! is my first U certificate film,” tweeted Basu. The director’s previous films like Murder, Gangster – A Love Story and Life in a… Metro that were released with an A-certificate, while Kites was awarded a U-A certificate.

Co-produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur, Barfi! revolves around a fun-loving deaf-mute boy (Ranbir Kapoor) and an autistic girl (Priyanka Chopra). Slated to release on September 14, the film also marks Telugu actor Ileana D’Cruz’s foray into Bollywood.

Considering the storyline of Barfi!, we wonder why Basu even doubted a U-certification for his film!

The adult film actor-turned-Bollywood babe defends her debut film Jism 2, and also talks about her future plans in Bollywood

Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone says that her Bollywood debut Jism 2 is not as wild as people are thinking it to be.“My definition of bold is different from your definition of bold. I think the world is ready to just be able to be free. The movie did get an ‘A’ certificate. It’s not as crazy as you think, it’s about love,” the 31-year-old actor said in an interview.

Sunny has no definite plans in place for her acting career and she doesn’t really “have a particular kind of role that I would want to do. We get lots of offers on different movies and right now I am reading different scripts”.

“Right now my main goal is the whole picture – who is directing it, what company is it with, obviously the whole story. There is no plan of what to do next because who knows what’s going to happen next,” added the actor who became popular in India after her stint on reality show Bigg Boss 5.

Actor Tusshar Kapoor is set to join the six-pack gang in Bollywood. The actor is working out hard for Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum, in which he will go shirtless and reveal a sculpted body in a beach sequence. “My trainer is pushing me a lot. He is working hard on me for Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum. There is a beach scene and if I have to go shirtless, I will have to be fit,” Tusshar said. “It’s fun to shock people and do something that you have not done before. I also have a seduction scene in the film,” he added.

A sequel to 2005 film Kyaa Kool Hain Hum, Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum will be a sex comedy. And Tusshar feels the Indian audience is ready for such content. “Kyaa Super Kool… is quite a mad film. It’s an adult film. Today, everybody is ready for it. They are accepting all kinds of cinema. Nobody is ashamed or embarrassed to watch a sex comedy. India has opened up and we are being very honest with the publicity of our film,” the 35-year-old said.

Directed by Sachin Yardi, the film, releasing August 12, also features Riteish Deshmukh. One of the film’s poster has the back of a topless woman in a yellow underwear, and her back reads ‘Guess Who’s Back’. “We have a bold trailer (for the film) and we are going to deliver what we are promising. It’s going to be funny and audiences are going to laugh their heart out. When they go home, they will feel light and happy,” he added.

Tusshar seems confident with the content and says one doesn’t need U/A certification for a film to work. “If you have a target audience, the film will work. We don’t need U/A certificate for a film to work. The Dirty Picture was ‘A’ certificate. It worked well. Kyaa Kool Hain Hum was ‘A’. That also worked well… so it all depends on the content,” said Tusshar.

Shahrukh Khan’s much awaited superhero film RA.One has cleared the formalities of the Central Board of Film Certification (censor board) recently. Reports suggest that the Board has issued a clear ‘U’ Certificate to the superhero film with strict conditions that it should have clear disclaimer about the stunts at the beginning of the movie. We heard that the Board raised strong objections about Shahrukh’s daring stunts in the movie. It raised serious concerns about the stunts influencing impressionable minds into emulating the derring-do. However, the Board has given ‘U’ Certificate to the film, after the filmmakers promised to adhere to its conditions. It has asked producer Shahrukh Khan to put a disclaimer to the effect that the stunts were computer-generated and should not be replicated by anyone.